The limits of freedom

The Bauchi State Government recently sacked a staff of the state Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Abbas Faggo, over his comments on Facebook about alleged corruption in the state.

Before Faggo was sacked, the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Almustapha Suleiman, had asked the police to investigate and prosecute him for the alleged Facebook publication, which he described as “injurious falsehood and defamation to Yuguda’s administration.”

Faggo should have known better that as a civil servant he was taking a big risk by openly criticising the state governor on a controversial issue like corruption, which will be hard for him to prove. Based on the oath of secrecy which civil servants swore to, civil servants, except when authorised, are expected to be seen and not heard.

The above case raises the issue of how the citizens who are not professional journalists should exercise their freedom of expression on the social media and other online platforms.

Even for professional journalists, there are codes of ethics which they are expected to abide with. The code addresses among others, the need for fairness, balance and objectivity in reporting. It requires journalists to crosscheck their information, avoid raising false claim and not invading the privacy of people they are seeking information from. Journalists are not supposed to obtain information through unethical means.

When journalists disobey the ethics of the profession or media laws like libel, they either get penalised by their professional bodies or sued along with their media houses by aggrieved parties.

It is against this background that one gets worried that online platforms are being abused by some people all in the name of freedom.

All kinds of unverified allegations are circulated online against not only government officials but other citizens who have to battle hard to state their sides of the story. While some of the citizens-journalists like Faggo are bold enough to use their real identity, others adopt false names.

Even in responding to published stories on some websites, many people find it difficult to use civil language when they disagree with a point of view. They indulge in name calling and sometimes use abusive language.

As an online Editor, I usually spend hours going through comments. There is the erroneous impression that freedom to express oneself is freedom not to respect the right of the other person.

Some comments are insensitive and one cannot but wonder why people who write them are not conscious of the need not to abuse the opportunity they have to express their views.

When the deaths of some top personalities were announced, some readers don’t have any problem with abusing the dead and their families. The President makes a statement and some angry writers want websites and blogs to publish their responses calling him a fool.

I support freedom of expression but what should be clear to citizen-journalists is that they should express it with the highest level of discretion. Faggo should have left his name out of the Facebook posting instead of being unnecessarily daring and getting sacked. When we get any report, our first action should not be to put it on our Facebook wall or tweet it. When things happen around us, especially accidents, the first thought on our mind should not be to take picture and share it on social media.

Freedom without limit can be abused and is being abused in the country now. It should not take security officials to call anyone to order. People should learn to know what to write on, how to write and when to write.